Oregon Ducks vs Washington Huskies, Twitter Stream, 5pm Pacific Time, Fox Sports 1
Washington Player to Watch: Shaq Thompson
The Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies take the field here at Autzen Stadium at 5pm Pacific Time and the one Washington Player I will have my eye on is Shaq Thompson who is tied for fifth in the nation with five forced fumbles. He has scored four defensive touchdowns this year, including one on Offense. #7 is Washington’s impact player tonight against the Oregon Ducks.
Pregame:
The storylines this week between the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies are many. Oregon celebrates the 20th Anniversary of ‘The Pick’, a play that changed the program forever. The man who made the play, Kenny Wheaton will be on hand tonight along with several other key members of the Oregon Ducks past. The honorary captain’s for the game tonight will be introduced pre-game and certainly will get the crowd ready. Wheaton, along with former Quarterbacks Bill Musgrave and Joey Harrington.
The game features a very talented Oregon Ducks Offense that has had their share of injuries this season, especially on the Offensive Line. Last week they got back a key piece in Senior Jake Fisher. With his return the running game had a solid day including the team’s first one-hundred yard rushing day of the year courtesy of Freshman Royce Freeman who ran for one-hundred twenty one yards and a touchdown. I don’t know if it will be as easy today for Freeman as the Washington Defense is stacked with talent and is one of the best in the Pac-12, if not the country.
"To have Jake(Fisher) back is huge for us, especially communication-wise. We can kind of be on the same page, especially for our offense.Oregon Quarterback Marcus Mariota on having Offensive Tackle Jake Fisher back in the lineup."
Tackle Danny Shelton is one to watch tonight. He leads the team in tackles for a loss and will be in the face of Oregon Ducks Center Hroniss Grasu. Defensive end Hau’oli Kikaha leads the country in sacks this year so far with ten. Before last week the Oregon Ducks gave up twelve sacks on Quarterback Marcus Mariota over two games. Last weekend, none with the return of Fisher to the starting lineup.
If Washington can make Oregon a one dimensional team, similar to what Arizona did a few weeks ago it could come down to a play on special teams or the defense to earn the victory tonight. Now, onto the links:
Getting Caught In the Hype:
- Huskies Will Face Healthier Oregon Offense -SeattleTimes
- ‘The Pick’ Highlights Oregon Ducks vs Washington Huskies – AutzenZoo
- The Pick: How Kenny Wheaton’s play changed the Oregon Ducks program -The Oregonian
- Everything’s Jake again on Mariota’s blind side – Register Guard
- SportsDesk: Oregon Knows About ‘The Pick’, Does The Rest Of The Country Care? -EugeneDailyNews
In the Know:
Gameday #Hashtag#: #UWvsUO
AccuWeather Forecast: 71 degrees, Partly Cloudy at Kickoff//Final Whistle, 57 degrees, Clear
AutzenZoo will have Live Coverage of the Game on AutzenZoo.com(on this page) starting at 4pm Pacific Time from the Press Box at Autzen Stadium. Check in throughout the game or follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates. We will also be updating the Eugene Daily News Hashtag #EDNSports on Facebook and Twitter.